Abstract: Objective: To investigate the professional identity and its relationship with emergency attitudes to public health emergencies among nursing undergraduate interns during the outbreak of COVID-19. Methods: Totally 301 undergraduate nursing interns in a tertiary grade A general hospital in Henan Province were included, and the general information questionnaire, Professional Identity Questionnaire of Nursing Student (PIQNS) and the Emergency Attitude Scale for Public Health Emergencies were used for data collection. Results: The average score of PIQNS was 64.04±12.02, and the average item score of the Emergency Attitude Scale for Public Health Emergencies was 3.95±0.54. There was a significant positive correlation between professional identity and emergency attitudes to public health emergencies (r=0.588, P<0.01). The results of hierarchical regression analysis showed that professional identity independently explained 24.8% of the variation in emergency attitudes to public health emergencies. Conclusion: The nursing undergraduate interns had a high level of professional identity during the outbreak of COVID-19, and the emergency attitude of public health emergencies was at a medium level. Professional identity is an important related factor of emergency attitudes to public health emergencies. It is suggested to set up courses on dealing with public health emergency for undergraduate nursing students, and attach importance to the cultivation of professional identity in teaching, so as to improve their emergency attitudes towards public health emergencies.

Key words: COVID-19; undergraduate; nursing interns; professional identity; emergency attitude